WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission denied a 2002 request from the American Bird Conservancy and the Forest Conservation Council to study whether wireless towers contribute to the death of migratory birds, clearing the way for wireless towers to be rebuilt along the Gulf Coast.
Meanwhile, an ongoing study on migratory-bird deaths in Michigan found that a change in lighting could decrease the number of birds that die from crashing into towers along their migratory route. Some experts believe the birds are drawn to tower lights, unnecessarily killing them.
“Given our society’s continued desire for the services these structures provide and the growing number of towers across the landscape, changes in tower lighting systems may provide a highly useful option for decreasing the attraction of night-migrating songbirds to towers; thereby, minimizing bird mortality,” wrote Joelle Gehring of the department of biology of Central Michigan University.<p>The FCC and Federal Aviation Administration supported the Michigan study, funded largely by the Michigan State Police. The FCC and the state of Michigan have been studying the impact of tower lighting on birds since 2003. The study identified the carcasses of 42 different avian species around 24 towers during the fall migration season. Gehring did not make a specific recommendation about what changes might lessen the deaths, although she did say additional study should determine whether there is a difference in mortality for different towers.
PCIA, which represents tower companies and owners, praised the FCC’s decision to dismiss the ABC/FCC petition. “There is no clear evidence that telecommunications towers pose a real threat to migratory birds. It is reassuring that the FCC refused to act on the basis of an inconclusive record,” said PCIA President Michael Fitch.
As part of a compromise within the agency, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin agreed to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking on the impact of towers on migratory birds.
“While I do not embrace this action [dismissing the petition], I am willing to vote in favor of it because of the agreement to my request to consider an NPRM in the larger proceeding addressing the important issue of the potential effects of communication towers on migratory birds,” said FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
The commission said ABC/FCC did not justify their request for the agency to conduct an environmental impact statement and to require an environmental assessment to be done on nearly 6,000 existing structures focusing on the effect of communications towers on migratory birds.
Adelstein said that ABC/FCC spotlight on the Gulf Coast area, which is now recovering from Hurricane Katrina, was one reason he agreed to dismiss the petition.
“While I am sympathetic to a number of issues raised in the petition before us, the petition just is not the right vehicle for these overarching concerns. This is particularly true when you consider the rebuilding efforts that will be so critical to the Gulf Coast area over the next several months, particularly with a new hurricane season rapidly approaching. Rebuilding the communications infrastructure in the areas that were hit so badly by last season’s hurricanes is priority one,” said Adelstein.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps criticized the agency for not being able to balance its environmental and communications-promoting responsibilities. “We are not faced with an all-or-nothing proposition,” said Copps. “This action says less about the impact of communications towers on migratory birds than it does about past commission failure to do its job.”
The ABC/FCC petition goes back to 2002 when the groups charged that the commission had improperly licensed nearly 6,000 towers along the Gulf Coast because the impact to migratory birds was not considered.
